Session
Session VII: Instruments/Science II
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The ionosphere contains large amounts of ionized plasma which is affecting the propagation of radio waves. The perturbation in ionospheric plasma significantly influences modern infrastructures that rely on radio and satellite communication. Hence, it is essential to develop a reliable platform for ionospheric plasma density monitoring. The Space Precision Atomic-clock TIming Utility Mission (SPATIUM) presents a new approach for ionospheric plasma mapping using a constellation of nanosatellites equipped with a high precision timing reference, double Langmuir probe and UHF inter-satellite ranging payloads. SPATIUM mission utilizes the breakthrough chip-scale atomic clock to generate highly stable and accurate clock signal for each satellite in order to determine the phase-shift in satellite signal. The ionosphere total electron content could be derived from ranging signals among satellites along the inter-satellite path. The pathfinder satellite, SPATIUM-I, was developed and successfully released from International Space Station on 6 October 2018. The main objective of this 2U CubeSat is to validate the clocking performance of a commercial off-the-shelf chip-scale atomic clock and demonstrate other key enabling technologies in orbit. The satellite is working well since deployment and the analysis of the captured satellite data is on-going.
Overview of Project SPATIUM – Space Precision Atomic-clock Timing Utility Mission
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The ionosphere contains large amounts of ionized plasma which is affecting the propagation of radio waves. The perturbation in ionospheric plasma significantly influences modern infrastructures that rely on radio and satellite communication. Hence, it is essential to develop a reliable platform for ionospheric plasma density monitoring. The Space Precision Atomic-clock TIming Utility Mission (SPATIUM) presents a new approach for ionospheric plasma mapping using a constellation of nanosatellites equipped with a high precision timing reference, double Langmuir probe and UHF inter-satellite ranging payloads. SPATIUM mission utilizes the breakthrough chip-scale atomic clock to generate highly stable and accurate clock signal for each satellite in order to determine the phase-shift in satellite signal. The ionosphere total electron content could be derived from ranging signals among satellites along the inter-satellite path. The pathfinder satellite, SPATIUM-I, was developed and successfully released from International Space Station on 6 October 2018. The main objective of this 2U CubeSat is to validate the clocking performance of a commercial off-the-shelf chip-scale atomic clock and demonstrate other key enabling technologies in orbit. The satellite is working well since deployment and the analysis of the captured satellite data is on-going.
